Who shot who
This is a look at "who shot who". Inspired by "Who kissed who" at Judith Proctors' site (http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/whatswhat/Kisses.html), except I don't have screenshots of all the killing. First a few rules (based on me wanting to make this a measure of killingness): - I only counted direct face-to-face (or close to it) kills (so unknown numbers of people on spaceships didn't count). - I also counted kills that were not actually shot with a gun, but it was pretty clear one of our heroes did the killing. - They had to be on screen kills. - They had to be human (or humanoid, or in human shape and treated as sentient by the script - so I counted Vinny the Android, for example)) - If I wasn't sure - they aren't dead (like lots of the people Gan bashes). - I split Travis in half between Blake and Avon - I only counted our heroes - next time through all 52 I'll do the baddies and guests
All the results tabulated by character and episode are available in an Excel spreadsheet (email me offlist if you want a copy).
And the winner is..
No surprise - Avon at 47.5 kills Avon also has the highest per episode kill rate of 0.93.
The ranking by number of kills is: Avon - 47.5 Dayna - 22 Tarrant - 20 Blake - 16.5 Soolin - 11 Jenna - 8 Cally - 5 Vila - 3 Gan - 1
This doesn't seem fair to those who aren't around much (e.g. Soolin), so I tried ranking by kills per episode, but actually nothing changes, except Soolin moves up a few spots:
Avon - 0.93 Dayna - 0.85 Soolin - 0.85 Tarrant - 0.77 Blake - 0.59 Jenna - 0.31 Cally - 0.25 Vila - 0.06 Gan - 0.06
So the cast divides neatly into kill at the drop of a hat (A,D,S, T and B) and the softies (J, C, V and G).
There are some surprises/observations: These results reinforce the kick-ass nature of the women in B7 with Dayna and Soolin doing lots of killing. However, Soolin the hired gun gets 8 of her kills in just two episodes (Warlord and Gold) - the rest of time she just isn't a killer. "Companions for my death" Cally is also rather circumspect in the "shoot first" scale. Avon takes time to get going but makes up for it later. Only one confirmed kill in season 1. So maybe he was telling the truth to Jenna about not being sure about shooting someone (although the story we get later about him killing the visa guy shoots this all apart :-)). Vila kills noone for two whole seasons. Gan would have ranked higher but his implant actually worked.
If we look at series instead of individuals there is a steady increase in killing (as the plots got thinner ;-/): Series 1 - 15 Series 2 - 25 Series 3 - 39 Series 4 - 55
For a total of 134, or 2.6 per episode. Of course many more people are killed in the show as a whole, but I haven't counted up the villans kills yet (or the single show guests). Also - lots of people get killed by the gang in series one and two when they are blowing up various installations - but these are hard to count.
Individual episodes show a wide range of bloodthirstiness. In 16 episodes our heroes kill no-one. In both Gold and Warlord, 10 are shot. Blake (the episode, not the man) is runner up, with nine kills (everyone but Dayna gets someone to kill). The highest single number killed in one episode by one character is six by Blake in Redemption.
Summary: No real surprises, although at 47.5 kills, you could say Avon had it coming to him at the end. Avon kills the most and the most often. It must be all those rescue missions :-p. Dayna and Tarrant follow, with Soolin matching them on a per episode basis. At the other extreme, Vila hardly ever kills. The show gets progressively more blood-thirsty with each series. The episode to episode range is big and often our heroes shoot nobody at all.
- Iain
From: Iain Walker iainwalker@home.com
First a few rules (based on me wanting to make this a measure of killingness):
These are pretty much the same rules I used when compiling bodycounts for the Sevencyclopaedia, (on Judith's site, under 'Death') which gives completely different tallies for each and every character.
And the winner is.. No surprise - Avon at 47.5 kills Avon also has the highest per episode kill rate of 0.93.
I only got 36 kills for Avon (with full credit for Travis), and reckoned Soolin the most lethal with at least 15 kills (the only character to garner more than one fatality per episode).
The ranking by number of kills is: Cally - 5
Huh? I could only find three - Sherm, another of Bayban's men and a Link on Terminal. (Credit for Molok goes to Jenna, who did the actual button-pushing).
So the cast divides neatly into kill at the drop of a hat (A,D,S, T and B) and the softies (J, C, V and G).
On that at least we agree.
There are some surprises/observations: However, Soolin the hired gun gets 8 of her kills in just two episodes (Warlord and Gold) - the rest of time she just isn't a killer.
Four Space Rats in Stardrive.
"Companions for my death" Cally is also rather circumspect in the "shoot first" scale.
But she would have killed Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy if Blake had let her. She also threatened to kill Bayban, but that just put her somewhere in the middle of the queue.
Vila kills noone for two whole seasons.
I made it one acolyte on Cygnus Alpha (1st Season) and a guard on Mecros 2 (4th Season), so yup, two whole seasons without a kill.
Gan would have ranked higher but his implant actually worked.
I don't have any confirmed fatalities for Gan at all.
Individual episodes show a wide range of bloodthirstiness. In 16 episodes our heroes kill no-one.
Only Duel and Sarcophagus can claim to be deathless episodes, and then only tentatively. (Travis' mutoid died but was restored to life, and the undead alien was already dead so couldn't be killed as such).
I'm not particularly surprised that there are discrepancies between your tallies and mine, since there are problems in deciding who got killed, if they actually did killed, and who killed them. Who killed Cato, for example - Avon, or Pella? Do we credit Orac for killing Hannah, or the malign alien force that had taken Orac over? I'd suggest we swop notes but I don't have Excel.
One thing to remember is that the deadliest character of all was probably Servalan. She did after all wipe out an entire planet...
Neil
Niel said all sorts of things, like:
From: Iain Walker
First a few rules (based on me wanting to make this a measure of killingness):
These are pretty much the same rules I used when compiling bodycounts for the Sevencyclopaedia, (on Judith's site, under 'Death') which gives completely different tallies for each and every character.
Neil - I just knew this would happen. I found a surprisingly large number of cases where it wasn't clear exactly "who shot who" particularly in the periodic "shoot many trooper" scenes. However, I am surprised at the big differences you pointed out. The only solution is to form an impartial panel who watch all 52 episodes, discuss each shooting in detail and present some sort of consensus. Or we could debate it here :-).
And the winner is.. No surprise - Avon at 47.5 kills Avon also has the highest per episode kill rate of 0.93.
I only got 36 kills for Avon (with full credit for Travis), and reckoned Soolin the most lethal with at least 15 kills (the only character to
garner
more than one fatality per episode).
Maybe i gave Avon less benefit of the doubt, or more credit as a sharpshootin' hombre he was dying to be in season 4.
The ranking by number of kills is: Cally - 5
Huh? I could only find three - Sherm, another of Bayban's men and a Link
on
Terminal. (Credit for Molok goes to Jenna, who did the actual button-pushing).
She shoots a trooper in Bounty and then another in RoD.
So the cast divides neatly into kill at the drop of a hat (A,D,S, T and
B)
and the softies (J, C, V and G).
On that at least we agree.
There are some surprises/observations: However, Soolin the hired gun gets 8 of her kills in just two episodes (Warlord and Gold) - the rest of time she just isn't a killer.
Four Space Rats in Stardrive.
Rats! :-). I missed these four. However, this is such an annoying episode I can't bring myself to watch it again. The Exploited and Wendy O. certainly have a lot to answer for :-/ Though I suppose if the Minutemen were considered the height of "youth fashoin" at the tim, then we would have had the worlds loudest plaid flannel shirts. Or Joy Division and an M&S reject look :-)
<snip>
I don't have any confirmed fatalities for Gan at all.
Well - I gave him credit from one of the many he bashes in Cygnus Alpha - but maybe they weren't really dead (although I think that it was clearly the intent of the writer/director that we think Gan is quite capable of menace/killing in this episode).
<snip>
One thing to remember is that the deadliest character of all was probably Servalan. She did after all wipe out an entire planet...
Well... if its "responsibility" we are looking for then maybe Travis who caused the alien invasion and a huge galactic wide war probably "killed" the most. But Servalan does it with much more wit and style!
Thanks for the feedback, Neil.
- Iain
From: Iain Walker iainwalker@home.com
Niel said all sorts of things
He often does, I'm afraid. Especially when you spell his name wrong:)
These are pretty much the same rules I used when compiling bodycounts
for
the Sevencyclopaedia, (on Judith's site, under 'Death') which gives completely different tallies for each and every character.
Neil - I just knew this would happen. I found a surprisingly large number of cases where it wasn't clear exactly "who shot who" particularly in the periodic "shoot many trooper" scenes. However, I am surprised at the big differences you pointed out. The only solution is to form an impartial panel who watch all 52 episodes, discuss each shooting in detail and
present
some sort of consensus. Or we could debate it here :-).
We could debate it here. Not exactly a lot else happening on the Lyst right now.
The ranking by number of kills is: Cally - 5
Huh? I could only find three - Sherm, another of Bayban's men and a
Link
on
Terminal. (Credit for Molok goes to Jenna, who did the actual button-pushing).
She shoots a trooper in Bounty and then another in RoD.
She doesn't shoot either, just clonks them on the head. Neither counts as a definite kill, IMO, though there is a strong case for Bounty. Likewise the guard Vila clonks in SLD.
There are some surprises/observations: However, Soolin the hired gun gets 8 of her kills in just two episodes (Warlord and Gold) - the rest of time she just isn't a killer.
Four Space Rats in Stardrive.
Rats! :-). I missed these four. However, this is such an annoying
episode
I can't bring myself to watch it again. The Exploited and Wendy O. certainly have a lot to answer for :-/
Had Wendy O Williams been in it I think I could suffer to watch it a few more times:)
Though I suppose if the Minutemen were considered the height of "youth fashoin" at the tim, then we would
have
had the worlds loudest plaid flannel shirts. Or Joy Division and an M&S reject look :-)
But lots of Atmosphere and plenty of Dead Souls in every Transmission. Instead we got a 4th Season cobbled together by Simple Minds.
Neil
Neil got his name spelled correctly this time, quoted Iain a bit, and typed: <snip>
She shoots a trooper in Bounty and then another in RoD.
She doesn't shoot either, just clonks them on the head. Neither counts as
a
definite kill, IMO, though there is a strong case for Bounty. Likewise
the
guard Vila clonks in SLD.
You are right. I think we (the audience) are supposed to think that she killed them, though. So not shot then, but brutally clubbed?
<more snippage>
Though I suppose if the Minutemen were considered the height of "youth fashoin" at the tim, then we would
have
had the worlds loudest plaid flannel shirts. Or Joy Division and an M&S reject look :-)
But lots of Atmosphere and plenty of Dead Souls in every Transmission. Instead we got a 4th Season cobbled together by Simple Minds.
LOL :-). Good stuff. There must be a sociology thesis in this somewhere. Most JD song titles (and subject matter) fit in nicely with B7. Just looking at Closer: Atrocity exhibition - pick youtr B7 massacre (or Servalans outfits ;-)) Isolation - Avon in general? Passover - Ginka passed-over for command in CoA (groan) Colony - in many episodes A means to an end - every bloody episode for our "freedom fighters" Heart and Soul - our gangs commitment to overthrowing the federation Twenty Four hours - there many episodes where our gang is "running out of time" The Eternal - either the federation, or the any of the "mystic" characters we meet Decades - errrmmm... tricky one, this. Anyway - I think the point is clear. and could She's Lost Control (again) apply to Servalan????
I won't even start with the gang of four and tie-ins like Capital (it fails us now) for the episode "gold", or return the gift for "avalon".
- Iain
-Iain
On 8 Apr 2001 as I do recall, Neil Faulkner wrote:
From: Iain Walker
The ranking by number of kills is: Cally - 5
Huh? I could only find three - Sherm, another of Bayban's men and a Link on Terminal. (Credit for Molok goes to Jenna, who did the actual button-pushing).
Cally kills a Federation trooper in unarmed combat in Bounty.
"Iain Walker" iainwalker@home.com wrote: : The ranking by number of kills is: : Cally - 5
: This doesn't seem fair to those who aren't around much (e.g. Soolin), so I : tried ranking by kills per episode, but actually nothing changes, except : Soolin moves up a few spots:
: Avon - 0.93 : Dayna - 0.85 : Soolin - 0.85 : Tarrant - 0.77 : Blake - 0.59 : Jenna - 0.31 : Cally - 0.25 : Vila - 0.06 : Gan - 0.06
Which 20 Cally episodes did you use for this statistic? *grin*
Not that it affects the rankings if you divide by... what, 36? instead. 37 counting Rescue. She's still between Jenna and Vila.
Claudia
Claudia wrote: <snip>
Which 20 Cally episodes did you use for this statistic? *grin*
Ouch! Sorry - I think I just ran out of fingers and toes :-).
Not that it affects the rankings if you divide by... what, 36? instead. 37 counting Rescue. She's still between Jenna and Vila.
Somewhere there is an alternative B7 universe in which Cally really is a crazed freedom fighter and dashes into danger like Tarrant. But then season 3 would have been fairly manic!
- Iain
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